Deadly storms expected to pass through Alabama overnight

From staff and wire reports

Published: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 5:32 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 5:32 p.m.

TUSCALOOSA | A severe weather system that killed 10 people on the Texas-Mexico border and flooded parts of the Midwest Wednesday will likely bring large hail and potential tornadoes to West Alabama overnight.

Darone Jones, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham said the area would probably see some severe weather around 1 or 2 a.m. Thursday.

“We’re looking at large hail, like golf ball-, baseball-sized hail,” he said. “The parameters are also there for some isolated tornadoes.”

Jones attributed much of the expected bad weather to a slow-moving squall line.

“In a worst-case scenario, you could get a tornado and then 20 minutes later, another cell forms right after that one,” he said. “The whole line is just slowly inching eastward.

“Barring anything moving ahead of the squall line – and we’re seeing some signs of activity – it’ll go into the morning hours before it starts clearing out. It could be a long night.”

<p>TUSCALOOSA | A severe weather system that killed 10 people on the Texas-Mexico border and flooded parts of the Midwest Wednesday will likely bring large hail and potential tornadoes to West Alabama overnight.</p><p>Darone Jones, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham said the area would probably see some severe weather around 1 or 2 a.m. Thursday.</p><p>We’re looking at large hail, like golf ball-, baseball-sized hail, he said. The parameters are also there for some isolated tornadoes.</p><p>Jones attributed much of the expected bad weather to a slow-moving squall line.</p><p>In a worst-case scenario, you could get a tornado and then 20 minutes later, another cell forms right after that one, he said. The whole line is just slowly inching eastward.</p><p>Barring anything moving ahead of the squall line – and we’re seeing some signs of activity – it’ll go into the morning hours before it starts clearing out. It could be a long night.</p><p>Jones advised residents to purchase NOAA weather radios and watch local stations for weather updates.</p>